hello there.: The Family of 7 That Sleeps in One Bed

The members of the Boyce family are close.
No, literally. The members of the Boyce family are literally close in proximity to each other, sleeping in a massive seven-person bed.
Portrait photographer Elizabeth and stay-at-home dad Tom Boyce combined pieces of IKEA furniture to create a Frankenbed for themselves and their five children.
When the family travels around the country for Elizabeth’s shoots, they share campers and hotel rooms that force closeness. This necessity became a preference for the children, so the parents decided to enforce the same togetherness back in Texas during their at-home evening ritual.
On her blog, Elizabeth explains,

We just needed sleep. Tom is disabled and is often sick or needs care at night. I was up helping him…When we moved everyone together, the toddler got a dark little cave to sleep in. Our anxious, insomniac 11 yr old had a dark little cave to sleep in. Our wild sleepers each had their own space and I was still by Tom to help him if he needed it. Sleep, people. It is really simple.

The arrangement begs the obvious question of how the couple manages alone time when they are spending each night beside their offspring.
Elizabeth shares,

Sex doesn’t have to happen in a bed… I am sure you can figure it out. In our house, by moving everyone into one room, we suddenly had several other rooms that were completely empty at night and we no longer had small children wandering, crying into our bed in the dark.

Once she breaks it down, the bed begins to seem like a fun indoor camping trip for the whole family.
A Plano, Texas couple has found a unique way to save money on rent — by combining 2 beds into one family bed that sleeps 7.
The couple insists their sex life doesn’t suffer. “Sex doesn’t have to be in a bed,” said Elizabeth and Tom Boyce, who combined two IKEA beds into one bed with compartments that sleeps all 5 of their children.

And as for losing their privacy, the couple says the children often wander into their bedroom anyway.
Elizabeth and Tom posted a photo of their custom family bed on Facebook, where the image went viral.
“Suddenly 175,000 people are discussing my sex life,” Elizabeth, 35, wrote on the couple’s blog.
Elizabeth and Tom, 44, travel a lot. They said they got their idea from a camper bed since they all sleep in a camper while on the road.
The couple bought 2 Kura beds and spent an extra $77.50 to modify and combine the beds.
If you have 5 kids, and you’re thinking of downsizing to a one-bedroom apartment, the instructions to build your own family bed is on their blog.